PARIDA. 50 
_ How our nomenclature is to recognize cases like the present is a matter not easy to 
adjust. We believe that P. nigriceps and P. bilineata once occupied distinct areas, and, 
not coming into contact, were “species” in the sense of the term as generally adopted. 
P. albiloris, on the other hand, has never held this position, but is, in fact, P. nigriceps 
bilineata or P. bilineata nigriceps, according to which form most prevails in individual 
birds. 
o 
Fam. PARIDA. 
LOPHOPHANES. 
Lophophanes, Kaup, Skizz. nat. Syst. eur. Thierw. p. 92 (1829). (Type Parus cristatus, Linn.) 
Beolophus, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. i. p. 91 (1851). (Type Parus bicolor, Linn.) 
This section of the Paride differs from true Parus chiefly, if not entirely, in having 
a more or less well-developed crest—a character of no great importance, but one which 
has been used by American writers to distinguish Lophophanes as a genus. Still 
further subdivision has been proposed by Cabanis, who placed the American species 
under the name Bwolophus, and applied the term Machlolophus to certain Indian species 
with long crests. Including all these under Lophophanes, the genus comprises about 
fifteen species, whereof four are American and one European, the rest being found 
in the mountainous parts of India, chiefly in the Himalaya range. Of the American 
species there is an eastern bird (Z. bicolor) and a western (L. inornatus), the other two 
being found near the southern frontier. Both these last occur in Mexico. 
1. Lophophanes atricristatus. 
Parus atricristatus, Cassin, Pr. Ac. Phil. v. p. 108, t. 2’. 
Lophophanes atricristatus, Baird, Rev. Am. B. i. p. 78°; Baird, Brew. & Ridgw. N. Am. B. i. 
p. 90°; Sennett, Bull. U.S. Geol. Surv. iv. p. 6*; Merrill, Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. i. p. 120°. 
Supra olivaceo-cinereus, alis et cauda fuscescentioribus, capite summo et crista elongata nigris ; fronte et loris 
albis, genis griseo tinctis; subtus albidus, hypochondriis et crisso rufescentibus; rostro plumbeo-nigro, 
pedibus corylinis. Long. tota 5:0, ale 2°6, caudee 2°4, rostri a rictu 0°47, tarsi 0-7. (Descr. exempl. ex 
Vera Cruz, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. Texas, valley of the Rio Grande !345,—Mzextco ?, Vera Cruz (fide Boucard, mus. 
nostr.). 
Lophophanes atricristatus is a bird of very restricted range, being confined to the 
valley of the Rio Grande, and thence probably passing southwards along the seaboard 
of Eastern Mexico as far as Vera Cruz, whence we have a specimen supplied us 
by M. Boucard. The bird has never, so far as we know, been obtained by collectors 
who have worked more in the interior of Southern Mexico. In Texas it is described 
as everywhere abundant and lively in its habits, as well as a good singer, having a loud 
